VIJAY PRASHAD looks at the web of militias and drug-trafficking gangs that emerged in the Sweida region through the Syrian civil war, and how they relate to recent clashes and Israel’s intervention

FOR many of us who have taken part in the now 24 major marches for Palestine in London, there has been one consistent, calming figure at the head of them. One steady voice of assurance, advocating peace. If provoked by zionists or police, don’t retaliate. Remember this is a march of love. No matter the incitement, remain peaceful.
And it worked. There have been few, if any, incidents of unrest at any of the rallies in London or at the countless others across the country. A lot of that credit goes to our chief steward, Chris Nineham, one of the founders of the Stop the War Coalition.
It was a supreme irony, therefore, not to mention an outrage, to see footage of him being violently wrestled to the ground and arrested for trying to facilitate a consummately peaceful act, the laying of flowers to remember the Gaza dead. Justifying Nineham’s arrest, the police claimed protesters tried to force their way through a police line.

The crew of the Freedom Flotilla boat, Handala, warned Israel to obey international law but are now in captivity, reports LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Waves of protesters are refusing to comply with the latest crackdowns on dissent, but the penalties are higher in Starmer’s Labour Britain than in Trump’s autocratic United States, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER

Funds are being raised to bring the bombed al-Shifa hospital back from the ashes, reports Linda Pentz Gunter

From Labour’s panic over the Corbyn-Sultana formation to Democratic Party grandees distancing themselves from Zohran Mamdani, centrist cliques on both sides of the Atlantic are quick to throw the same old insult, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER